We deal with complaints when the Customer is not satisfied with the service or product. In the road transport of goods, the carrier may receive complaints if he did not comply with the terms of the contract of carriage or did so incorrectly.
What should the complaint include?
Personal data of the carrier and the complainant,
grounds of complaint,
data specified by the carrier to identify the contract of carriage – in the absence of a copy,
copy of the transport document,
the documented amount of the claim,
bank account for payment of debt.
In which form can you submit complaints?
documentary - using means of electronic communication;
in writing - at the carrier's organizational unit, check-in point, or by post;
verbally - the statement should be entered in the record by an employee of the carrier's organizational unit;
electronic – provided that the carrier has such a possibility, e.g. through the website www.
How much time is there to file a complaint?
The applicant has quite a lot of time for this because the period for filing a complaint is 1 year.
It is worth remembering that the deadline may be shortened in case of late delivery of the goods or its delay. This reduces the time to complain to 2 months, or 3 months if the transport company has already issued a call for payment for carriage and the complaint relates to the carriage covered by this call.
The carrier may respond to the complaint by mail or by traditional post within 30 days. Lack of response involves compliance with the complaint by the carrier.
Complaints in international transport of goods
The regulations on complaints in international transport, contained in the CMR Convention, are based on the inspection of the goods by the carrier and the consignee. Reservations should be made in the CMR document. Therefore, the complaint should be filed at the time of receipt of the goods, which suspends the limitation period.
The provisions of the CMR Convention, in the context of the complaint, say:
the delay in the delivery of the goods may be the basis for compensation only if the objection has been made in writing within 21 days from the date of delivery of the goods at the disposal of the recipient;
when both - the consignee and the carrier have checked the condition of the goods, but later discovered hidden damage, the consignee of the goods can file a complaint within 7 days;
if the recipient has accepted the goods without checking or has not reported any objections to the carrier, then it is assumed that the condition of the goods at the time of receipt was in accordance with the bill of freight contents'. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, he can no longer submit a complaint about the condition of the goods.
If the applicant does not meet the above deadlines, he can no longer pursue his claims. Then, interest on the amount of compensation is charged from the moment the complaint is sent to the carrier.
The CMR Convention only specifies the form of complaint - it does not specify its requirements. Therefore, when lodging a complaint concerning international transport, it is necessary to follow the rules laid down by national law.
Complaints in domestic road transport of goods
The complaint is the first step in the process of obtaining the rights of the aggrieved. By the Transport Law Act, the entitled person has the right to initiate legal proceedings only after an unsuccessful claim, i.e. when the debtor fails to settle the requested claims within 3 months from the date of receipt of the claim.
The complaint affects:
the period of limitation of claims,
interest.
By the Transport Law, the period of limitation is suspended from the date of the call for payment or filing of a complaint. This is done until answering the request for payment, complaint, and return of documents.
It is worth mentioning that the suspension does not interrupt the course of the limitation period. This means that after 3 months or after responding to the complaint, the limitation period will resume, considering the period before the complaint.
In the case of interest, the calculation begins on the day of filing the claim. This applies to unforeseen claims where the parties have not contractually fixed a payment date.
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